Wednesday Wilco Song Spotlight: “Pecan Pie”

As it’s almost Thanksgiving, this week’s Spotlight shines on a song that celebrates one of the holiday’s most classic desserts:

“Pecan Pie” (Jeff Tweedy)

After performing this song at the Vic Theatre in Chicago for the Annual Benefit for Education on April 6, 2007, Jeff Tweedy remarked that it was “Definitely the best song I’ve ever written.”

Tweedy has made that claim often since the song’s release on Golden Smog’s Down by the Old Mainstream, but as he jokes around so much, it’s difficult to know whether or not he’s kidding. Don’t get me wrong - I find “Pecan Pie” to be a pure charmer, a sprightly, finger-picked song about a guy craving this traditional Southern dessert, and his love.

Tweedy premiered “Pecan Pie” during his first tour as a member of Golden Smog in 1994, and Wilco first played the song at their second ever show at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis in late November 1994, and they performed it throughout their ‘94-‘95 tour. They returned to it in ‘97, ‘99, and ‘00, but after that it has left the band’s orbit (their last performance of it was at one of the Lounge Ax’s last shows). It now resides in the realm of Tweedy’s solo gigs, and shows with his self-named side project.

The song has been a fan favorite, oft requested at Tweedy’s Education Benefits and he has repeated his claim as to it being the best song he’s ever written a few times in recent years, but not everyone agrees with him.  Allmusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in an otherwise rave review of Golden Smog’s Down by the Old Mainstream, wrote that it it’s a “bit too cute to be effective.”

Tim Grierson offered his critique in his 2012 band bio Wilco: Sunken Treasure that Tweedy’s “‘Pecan Pie’ has some of the same folk charm as some of A.M. but, like so much of his material at the time, felt lightweight to the point of being almost jokey.”

It’s possible that the whimsical jokiness of “Pecan Pie” is what Tweedy likes so much about it. The song’s appearance at his solo shows is usually surrounded by humor – sure a lot of the tunes are likewise kidded about, but Tweedy’s song about yearning for some honeypie seems to get special attention.

Performed as a request at the Annual Benefit for Education at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, on March 30, 2012, Tweedy said, “Whoever requested this song also gave me a key lime pie, which, if you listen to the lyrics, I don’t like them. Not to be an ingrate or anything, the whole song is about how I hate key lime pies. But I know it’s hard to get a pecan pie in a pinch.”

After the performance, Tweedy said, “Thank you for your help, and I do like key lime pies, that was a bunch of…I was totally kidding.” A few years later, at the Ryman Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee June 24th, 2014, he introduced “Pecan Pie” as “the only song that my wife knows the name of.”

Tweedy has played the song several times over the run of his family’s Instragram show, The Tweedy Show. Here’s the first time from Episode 7 (3/6/20):

In its nearly 50 solo performances by Tweedy, “Pecan Pie” has long been a fan favorite, but its status as the finest song that the man has ever written is arguably debatable.

What I’m going to guess is that the song is a jokey ditty, that Tweedy likes to joke
about being his best. Whatever the case, it sure makes me want a piece of my own.

Endnote: For some reason, this song doesn’t appear in my book, Wilcopedia. It should have because although it’s a Golden Smog song it was performed over 20 times by Wilco during their early tours which means it certainly falls under the band’s banner. Perhaps future editions can right this wrong.

More later...